H. Terrell Griffin: Wyatt's Revenge
Book Club Discussion

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Tell us a little bit about how Matt Royal came to be. Is he based on you or someone you know?

Matt Royal is what I often thought I'd like to be. A man who chucked the ratrace that is the practice of law and moved to an island paradise to live out his life as a beachbum. But in order to give the character substance, he has to do something besides hang out at the beach. I thought he could be a middle aged man who had once been among the toughest of the tough, an Army Special Forces officer, and who is dragged into mysteries not of his making. He is the reluctant warrior who girds himself for battles that come his way. He is at heart a good guy who has to do bad things to protect himself and those he cares about. His opinions on the practice of law, the overcrowding of Florida, the maddening pace of beauracracies, the perfidy of politicians, the beauty of his home state, his sense of friendship and honor and dedication all mirror my own. So I get to put a little of me in the character.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Keeping with the last question, was Matt always a man who would take the law into his own hands when he felt it necessary? I was surprised by his vigilante attitude, ambivalent about the men he killed, and undecided about how this made me feel about his character. Can you shed some light on his attitude toward taking lives for revenge?

Matt is a man of the law. It was his career and his passion. He believes in the system but knows its flaws. The only way for Matt to insure justice for Wyatt was to take on the miscreants himself. He knew that the system could not get the evidence needed to prosecute the bad guys, or for that matter, even find the bad guys. Matt is a reluctant vigilante who questions his quest for vengeance. On the other hand, Matt knows that there is evil in the world, and if it is stamped out, one evildoer at a time, the world is a better place. Matt would much rather have the law handle the process, but when the law is hamstrung by rules that are necessary but not always helpful, he moves in. And of course, Matt only killed those people who really needed killing.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Does the information about the Nazi escapees have any basis in reality? If so, how did you find all this out? If not, how did you come up with such a detailed plot while still keeping it accurate to the WWII timeline?

The Nazi escapees were real. There was really a series of ratlines out of Europe by which unrepentant Nazis escaped to South America. A large part of this was run by the Catholic Church through some of its priests and bishops, particularly the ones mentioned in the book. I used their real names, both in Italy and in Argentina. Of course, the characters like de Fresne, McKinley and Allawi were fictional. The facts concerning the Vichy government and its collaboration with the Nazis in sending Jews to death camps are true. There really was a Naval Gun shell in the Cathedral at Genoa, the 5th Infantry Division did take Frankfurt in March of 1945, and the I.G. Farben building was saved from bombing so that the allied governments could use it at the end of the war.

I am a history nut. I have a Bachelors degree in history and while pursuing a Masters degree in history I specialized in the area from the end of World War I to the end of World War II. I was aware of the ratlines and the Vichy government and much of what I wrote about. However, I did more research to make sure that I was faithful to the historical record.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Tell us more about this "code of honor" among men. Like Jess, I was confounded by the fact that these men immediately banded together with no questions asked in order to avenge Wyatt's death. Is this specific to the military or all men?

I'm not sure that the code of honor exists among all men, but it does among most soldiers. As a young man, I was a soldier for three years, serving overseas for most of that time. Bonds were formed with my buddies that were unique to any other friendships in my life, except perhaps with my own immediate family. And even those are different, if just as strong.

I have friends today that would come to my aid with no questions asked if I called upon them. Some of them were the men I served with and others are friends of the years since my discharge from the military. My lifelong buddy John (Jock) Allred comes to mind immediately. I can count on him for support any time I need him. The only other people I feel that way about are my wife and children. And that is reciprocal. I'd drop anything to go to the aid of that small band of brothers we call friends. Some of them my fellow soldiers and others my civilian friends.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Do Matt and Jess have a future together? Or does Matt have a new leading lady in each novel?

You'll have to wait and read Bitter Legacy, which will be released on December 1, 2010.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with H. Terrell Griffin

Can you tell us anything about your current writing projects?

Bitter Legacy is finished and has been with the publisher since September. It is going through the process that all books do and will be released in December. Matt, Jock and Logan are back trying to solve another mystery and stay alive. The mystery concerns some documents that date back 150 years and their potential impact on the present. Somebody doesn't want those documents to surface and is willing to kill to keep them secret.

I'm about 25% finished with another book that is as yet unnamed. This one will presumably be published in the fall of 2011. It is another Matt Royal mystery with roots in Southeast Asia.